Available for lectures and workshops on appraising and preservation of photographs and collection management for collectors and institutions.

Lorraine Davis has been appraising photographs and photography archives since 1984. She is a fully Accredited Specialist of Photography in the Appraisers Association of America and carries a Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) certificate as set by the Appraisal Foundation in Washington, D.C. She completed all four levels of Personal Property Valuation Courses at George Washington University and successfully examined for each one. She has signed and adheres to the AAA’s Code of Ethics.

She writes feature articles and two regular columns on appraising photographs for the international publication Black and White Magazine: For Collectors of Fine Photography and COLOR Magazine and has contributed to multiple academic publications. She is revising and updating Lee Witkin’s 1979 classic The Photograph Collector’s Guide, a publication still used by galleries, museums, researchers and collectors, and is writing A Guide to Appraising Photographs for Collectors, Curators, Appraisers and Dealers.

Ms. Davis graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Masters Degree in Photography and a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design. She extended her degree studies at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, where she studied the History of Photography with Amy Conger, PhD, and Contemporary Ideas in Photography with Peter Bunnell, Princeton. In addition, she printed for the Chicago Albumen Works, a company specializing in 19th century photographic processes, and worked as Berenice Abbott's printer and archivist. In 1983 she became the Assistant Director of the Paul Strand Archive then, in 1987, moved to Switzerland where she was the Kuratorin at Galerie zur Stockeregg in Zürich until the end of 1991. For the following twelve years Ms. Davis built and curated the Pfeifer Collection, Zürich, the only private collection of Classical American Photography in Europe. The collection travelled for two years in Germany to much critical acclaim.

In 2003 Ms. Davis returned to the United States after sixteen years in Europe. She has offices in Santa Fe, Houston, Los Angeles and New York City.